Injector-type cigarette-making machines are well known. As described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,971, to Kastner for “Cigarette Making Machine,” issued Jan. 24, 1956, such machines compress a portion of loose tobacco equivalent to one cigarette and then inject the compressed tobacco portion into a pre-formed cigarette tube. As is known, conventional injector-type cigarette-making machines include a crank arm which the user moves to operate the machine (i.e., compressing the loose tobacco and subsequently injecting the compressed loose tobacco), a tobacco chamber into which the loose tobacco is inserted, and a tobacco-compressing member (also known in the art as the tamper or cutter, hereinafter referred to as the tamper) which is coupled to the crank arm for translating movement in the tobacco chamber which causes compression of the loose tobacco according to movement of the crank arm. The pre-formed empty cigarette tube is held by a tube clamp at an end of a hollow nipple, which is in communication with the tobacco chamber, during the compression and injection of the portion of tobacco. Once the compressed tobacco is fully injected into the pre-formed cigarette tube (i.e., by moving the compressed tobacco from the tobacco chamber, through the hollow nipple and into the tube), the tube clamp releases the filled tube from the hollow nipple so that the cigarette may be smoked or stored for later smoking.
While such conventional machines have achieved substantial commercial success, one challenge with these machines is that, oftentimes, it is difficult for a user to load the machine because the tamper cannot be maintained in its fully retracted position without user intervention. Accordingly, to load a conventional machine with loose tobacco, the user typically maintains the crank arm in its initial position with one hand while filling the tobacco-receiving chamber with the other hand. As can be appreciated, this tobacco-loading technique is inconvenient and takes additional time because the user cannot freely use both hands to load tobacco into the machine. Furthermore, when using the aforementioned technique, there is the possibility that the user could unintentionally pinch the fingers of their hand loading the machine if their other hand holding the crank arm were to accidentally move the crank arm. To this end, an injector-type cigarette-making machine with a tamper-holding mechanism that positively maintains the tamper in a fully retracted position would be an important improvement in the art.